Device for measuring typewritten matter



W. BANCROFT. DEVICE FOR MEASURING TYPEWRITTEN MATTER.

- APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2,1916- 1,355,881

Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

Illljuxjljlfl WILFREDQ BANCROFT.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILFRED BANCROFT, or muons, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB T0 ms'rolv mono- TYPE MACHINE COMPANY, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A cannon- OF VIRGINIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

Application filed November 2, 1916. Serial No. 129,133.

T 0 all whom it may. concern Be it known that I, VVILFRED BANoRor'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ardmore, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Device for Measuring Typewritten Matter; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and to the characters of reference thereon.

My invention relates to the measurement of typewritten matter and has particular value in connection with the art of printing wherein it is now the almost universal practive to produce printed matter from copy which is typewritten. The amount of printed matter that a given number of pages of typewriting will produce may be accurately estimated in advance by measuring or counting for each page the number of char-.

acters and spaces thereon, multiplying this number by a constant to convert the number of characters and spaces into a printing unit ofmeasurement and adding together these units obtained for each separatepage. The utility of this system is practically confined to the users of the well known typesetting machines which are now and have been for a number of years made and sold by Lanston Monotype Machine Company the product of such machines being based upon a system of type measurement in which there is always a definite relation between the linewise widths of the varlous types constituting a, font, which relation is the same for the same kind of faces, as'for example, for all Roman faces, lrrespectlve of their point size or their design. On account of this uniformity of relationship between the width of set measurements of all such type, one constant in the above estimating system is sufficient for all type of the same kind, importantly for all Romantype, of which type class practically all of modern printing belongs. This constant, which is the fraction 25/53 for Roman'type, has been established by the making of a multitude of comparisons between typewritten copy and the printed matter producedtherefrom, and means that 53 typewritten characters and spaces (all, of which, of course,

are of the same width) will produce 25 set ems of prlnted matter in Roman type, a set em being the actual width in points of the widest letter of a font. A set em is, therefore, the cm of the set size of a face and is so named to avoid confusion with the historic printers em which is the em of the po1nt size of a face. The machines above referred to are designed and built upon the set em" basis of measurementof the product so that the constant 25/53, or the slightly different ratio for italic, boldface type,etc., does not necessitate the employment of a measurement or a term unfamiliar with those acquainted with the printing art. When the number of set ems which a, given copy will produce has thus been ascertained, the number of pages or columns of printed matter of a desired kind and size of type can readily be determined, or ifthe number of pages or columns is fixed the sizeofjtype,

with or without leading, for. filling that fixed number of pages or columns can be readily arrived at. In other words, the determination of set ems makes it possible for a printer to predict with an accuracy that varies only a few per cent. just how large a job he has before him, and he is, thus enabled to estimate the cost thereof with the same accuracy.

One of the essential elements in the employment of the system, which is well known under the expression copyfitting, is the ascertainment of the number of characters and spaces of typewritten matter for each page. The device of my invention is particularly designed to facilitate and make certain the desired results. In the drawings the device is illustrated in plan and as applied to a page 2 of typewriting. It consists of a sheet 1 generally triangular in form and having two edges, the top edge 3 and the side edge 4 meeting at right angles, the sheet being preferably thin and sufficiently transparent, as when made of celluloid or the like, that the typewriting lines may be distinguished by looking through the sheet when it is in place. This transparency may extend, as shown, throughoutthe entire sheet or it may be confined tov the region of, the side edge 4.

Along the top edge 3, or nearit, graduations 5 are made, the spaces thus indicated ation lines 5.

being each a unit of measurement equal to and representing the width of a typewritten character. Conveniently certain of the graduations 4 are marked with numbers showing how many graduations the marked ones are removed from the zero point, which point marks the beginning of the first unit of measurement of the letter scale and is at the extreme right of the top edge, 2'. 6., where the top and side edges intersect. The first of these marks as shown, on the top or letter scale, beginning at zero and reading toward the left, is 10, no counting less than ten being necessary because no typewritten line is ordinarily less than ten characters and spaces long.

In proximity to the side edge 4 another scale 6 is provided which may be called the line scale, its graduations representing as a unit of measurement the distance between successive single spaced lines of typewriting. The top edge 3 takes the place and repre sents the first of these graduations, and thus marks the beginning of the second unit of measurement of the line scale, the zero of the scale being one graduation above this edge and, therefore, outside of the boundaries of the device. Preferably every fifth graduation of this scale 6 is emphasized and marked with a number indicating its position from zero.

In the use of the device it is placed upon a typewritten page'so that the top edge 3 just touches the bottom of the first line of copy. The device is now moved to the right or left, without displacing its top edge with respect to the first line of copy until the user by looking through the transparent gage positions the side edge, whichis perpendicular to the typewritten, lines, with approximately as many letters of the long lines at the right of said edge, as'there are spaces at the ends of the short lines at the left of this edge of the device. Thus the line lengths are averaged and when the device is thus positioned the number of letters or characters and spaces in the average line can be read on the letter scale and the number of lines can be read on the line scale.

The first line of copy is shown printed in the drawing and it will be noted that each letter and word-space occupies a space equal to the distance between the successive gradu- The remaining lines of the copy are indicated by dotted lines. All of these lines begin at the 70 mark of the scale except those which begin paragraphs, which are indented. four spaces. The various lines of copy end as shown, some short of the zero of the letter scale, which zero corresponds with the side edge 4, and some beyond said zero to the right of said edge 4. The ends of some of these lines are indicated by the reference character 7. It will be noted, however, that the side edge 4 averages the line lengths, so that the scale in the drawing shows that the average length of line is seventy characters and spaces. The device also shows without further positioning that the number of lines on the'page is fifty-five. The product of these two results is 3850, the number of characters and spaces on the page and this product multiplied by the ratio 25/53 gives 1816 which are the set ems of Roman type matter contained in the page of copy measured. The number of set ems thus obtained may be used as a basis for a variety of determinations. For ex ample, the printer is able readily to determine the size of type and leading required to fill with these set ems of matter a specified number of pages of a certain size; or i to determine the number of printed pages these set ems will make when set in a specified face, measure and page size. Of course, when a. page of straight matter is interrupted by cuts and the like, especially when the cuts are of irregular shape, the area of the cuts to be placed on a given page must be subtracted from the area of the page in order that the area of the printed matter the page will accommodate may he arrived at. This is conveniently done by the use of a chart representing the page and having spaces indicated thereon for each em of printed matter to be placed on the page, the oolumnwise dimensions of said spaces being equal. to the point size of the type font to be used and the linewise dimensions thereof being equal to the set size in points of the widest type in the font to be used. A proof of the cut is usually secured to the chart in the location desired and an irregular line then drawn around it to mark the border tain typewritten copy, including the cuts that may go with it, may be estimated accurately by the use of the typewriter gage with the assistance of the chart.

There are in common use only two sizes of typewriter characters, the pica size in which there are ten letters to the inch and the elite size in which there are twelve letters to the inch, so that two devices would be suificient for practical purpose, although it is obvious that both the pica and the elite scale could conveniently be placed upon a single device.

I claim A device for measuring typewritten mat ter comprising a substantially triangular sheet of transparent material having a top edge bearing'lcttcr scale g u i s a d a the distance between adjacent typewritten lines and the beginning of the second unit thereof coinciding with said letter scale 10 bearing edge, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

WILFRED BANCROFT. 

